


Two Angels and a Dream: Side Stories

by psychicdreams



Series: Illdicia [2]
Category: No Fandom
Genre: Angels, Children, Demons, Illdicia, M/M, Magic, Original Characters - Freeform, Original Story - Freeform, Original World
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-07-06
Updated: 2014-07-06
Packaged: 2018-02-07 18:11:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply, Underage
Chapters: 4
Words: 12,629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1908780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/psychicdreams/pseuds/psychicdreams
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Side Stories for Two Angels and a Dream</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> There is a point of underage sexual activity in one of the parts. Also, I don't have a children and don't know how babies act.

Marduk watched with internal amusement as Gemma tried fruitlessly to shove a nearby chair, but his hands went right through it. He kicked and swore, but it didn't budge. "Now this is just insane! We can manifest, but still can't touch anything?! It's been over a year!"

"You should be glad we don't have to eat," Marduk told his demonic counterpart dryly and turned away toward the window.

They were currently in Kaito's nursery, but this time by choice. Unlike when his mother had been pregnant with him, they were at least allowed to leave and wander around. Not much right now, they were still testing the limits of the power they were borrowing from the child, but they could at least walk the perimeter of the house if they wanted.

"I'm so bored!" Gemma complained and Marduk grunted as the demon threw his weight against his back.

"What was that for?!"

"Entertain me."

"Why the hell should I?" he demanded, shoving Gemma off.

"Because I said so." There was a pause. "Hey...should he be doing that?"

Marduk turned sharply at Gemma's apprehensive voice. Kaito, who had been put down for a nap by his mother, was very awake. His little fingers were gripping his crib, still far too young at only a year and a few months old to have a bed, and were pulling him up.

"He can't get out," he replied, but it was with more hope than conviction. Who knew what might happen or how badly he'd hurt himself if he got out.

"You sure about that?" was the demon's dry reply when his eyes widened in something akin to horror when Kaito managed to get himself up on the edge of the side. For a moment, he balanced precariously on his stomach before tilting.

"Kaito!" Marduk rushed forward, but with him being all but a ghost, there was nothing he could do. They'd already tried picking him up when he was a baby and their hands went right through.

Kaito landed on the floor with a thump, but he didn't cry. Instead his hands reached out for the leg of his crib and he stood on wobbly legs. Green eyes turned to them, the clearest emerald he'd ever seen.

"Hey...can he actually see us?" Gemma asked, stunned. "I mean, I swore I thought he could when he was a baby, but..."

Slowly, carefully, Kaito tottered forward. He fell once, but just pushed himself back up with a look of childish determination. In all the time that they'd been around him, Kaito cried only a few times, but the lack of it didn't made him concerned like it would have if it were Eri.

They watched, stunned, when that hand reached out for him. "Sorry, Kaito, you can't touch us."

Only to find his words thrown right back at him when his pant leg was held in a tiny fist.

"What...the hell." Gemma reached out, but his hand passed right through the boy's short hair. Green eyes turned to look at the demon. "So he can touch us, but we can't touch him?"

Marduk shifted, his foot hitting a chair. He stilled in shock. He'd hit the chair! Testing, filled with a hopefulness he couldn't suppress, he reached out to touch the boy's head. His hair was so soft and he felt so fragile that he was afraid to touch him very hard.

"I don't--hey, what are you doing?!" Kaito, not letting go of Marduk's pant leg, grabbed a finger of Gemma's retreating hand. "Marduk, what is this?"

The toddler grinned at them, as if absurdly pleased at something. "Marrr. Gem."

"Did he just...try to say our names?"

"When do mortal children start talking?" Marduk asked, feeling completely out of his depth. Neither he or Gemma had ever been around humans younger than nineteen. He knew nothing about them at all as they grew.

Gemma knelt next to Kaito, green eyes watching him almost expectantly. As if afraid to find out, the demon reached out and poked the boy's stomach. There was a giggle in response, finger meeting resistance. "I don't believe it. He just... _touched us_ and suddenly we're real. We can touch things, we can interact! You think people can see us?"

"I don't know," Marduk replied, not sure what else to tell the demon. Why did he seem to think he had all the answers? Or was he just thinking out loud. Lost in his thoughts, he almost didn't notice when his companion grabbed the boy by the back of his shirt and lifted him up in the air. Kaito let out a peal of enjoyment.

"Gemma! You don't hold them like that! Didn't you watch his mother?!"

"Yeah, but--"

Marduk snatched the child up and grunted in surprise. Kaito was surprisingly heavier than he'd thought he'd be. He looked so tiny and insubstantial...

"Ow! Don't pull on that!" Marduk told him fiercely when his white, loose hair was grabbed and yanked.

Gemma laughed at him as he sauntered closer. "Having problems, Marduk--shit! Ow! Stop that!"

Marduk merely raised a sardonic eyebrow when the demon found himself in the same predicament as the angel. "Now who's having trouble?"

"You know, I always knew he was a ball of energy, but I didn't think he'd be like this! I can't even get his hand loose because if I try to pry it off, my claws'll cut him to ribbons."

Well Eri had always been really intelligent when she was a child, even at this young age, so... Marduk lifted Kaito until they were eye to eye. "You have to let go now, it hurts when you pull our hair.

"You're trying to _logic_ a one year old?!"

He ignored Gemma's incredulous voice and stared into those emerald eyes. He saw sense in them, as if he understood what he said. Then his hair was yanked. Well if Kaito understood what he'd said, he plainly didn't like the idea and wasn't about to let go. Marduk frowned heavily, but it eased with a sigh as the boy gave him that huge smile. There was no way he could stay mad, or even say no, when Kaito looked like that. Seeing such happy expressions were such a rarity with Eri and he hadn't really expected anything different this time around. Instead both Gemma and he were showered with some of the cutest smiles he'd ever seen.

"Geez, I'm a sad excuse for a demon," Gemma said with a sigh.

"What?" he asked, blinking when he was drawn out of his thoughts.

Gemma took him and held the boy in his arms. "I just thought a human child was _cute_ , Marduk. Demons aren't supposed to think that _anything_ is cute, much less human kids."

Kaito reached up, completely without fear, and stuck a finger in Gemma's mouth. The demon yelped a little in surprise.

"What? What is it?" he asked in concern.

"He's poking at my fangs! Damn it, you can't do that, you'll hurt yourself!" Gemma looked at Marduk. "Well...what do we do with him now? We can put him back in his bed, but I'll bet you all the gold in the world that he's not going to stay there."

Getting a tad stubborn, Marduk grabbed Kaito. "Let's see, shall we?" He put the child back down in his crib and they stepped away. At first it seemed as if the boy didn't know what had happened, then an unhappy look crossed his face.

"He's...not gonna cry is he?" Gemma asked anxiously. "What do we do if he cries?"

That thought hadn't occurred to him. What _did_ they do?

They didn't have to worry long because instead of crying, little hands grabbed the bars of his crib and began hauling himself up. Not even when he fell onto the floor a second time did Kaito cry as he tottered over a little faster to them. This time he fell on their feet.

Gemma crossed his arms and looked at him. "Now what, genius?"

Marduk frowned and tried again...and again. By the fourth time, he gave up. All he was doing was giving Kaito more practice and he was getting very good at climbing by this point. There was no keeping him in the bed. He sighed and sat down, Gemma following his lead. Might as well let Kaito do what he wanted then.

He was ready to be poked and prodded at, but Kaito only crawled into his lap, curled up, and went to sleep. He waited for a good twenty minutes, watching the even breathing, and whispered. "He's asleep. Try putting him back in his bed."

"Are you crazy?" Gemma replied, equally quiet so they didn't wake the whirlwind child.

"If his mother comes back and finds him like, even worse if it looks as if he's sleeping on air, what do you think'll happen? They might do something to Kaito, or they might get a priest to exorcise us or something."

"They can't do that, we're not ghosts."

"You want to chance it?"

"...Not really." So Gemma carefully lifted the boy and set him in the bed. There was only shifting once and for a moment, Marduk thought they'd gotten away with it. Then there was a sound of discontent from the crib. Tired green eyes opened, noticed where he was, and then over to them nearby.

"Uh...Marduk...? I think he's gonna..."

There was a hiccuping sound and then the first fat tear fell, followed by another. A keening, low wail started up and more tears fell. A lot more. Gemma looked at him in horror. "What do we do now?! We made him cry!"

The crying was getting worse, so Marduk did the only thing he could think of. "Gemma, bring him back over here."

So the demon didn't waste any time. Some of the intensity seemed to ease from the crying, but it didn't stop. Gemma handed him over quickly, as if somehow convinced that Marduk could somehow fix it because he was an angel. Yet Kaito didn't stop crying even when he was in his lap again.

"Why isn't he stopping?"

"Does it _look_ like I know?!" he spat in frustration.

Gemma leaned over, only to find his hair grabbed fiercely in that small grip. But when Marduk shifted him over to Gemma's lap, it didn't seem to help. Instead, he turned his watery green eyes over to the angel instead. "What the hell are we supposed to do?!"

"You're the angel here! You're at least more knowledgeable than me, right?!"

"He wants both of us to hold him, but he's too small for that...at least I _think_ that's what he wants. I thought he was crying because we woke him from his sleep."

The demon didn't say anything for a minute and then abruptly sat in Marduk's lap. Marduk yelped in surprise, much like Gemma earlier. "What are you doing?!"

"Shut up! This is my last idea!"

Yet it seemed to be working. The crying was easing off into hiccups again and tiny yawns. Marduk had to be careful not to hit his head against Gemma's as he leaned in. Kaito's hands were still grasping at the air, as if wanting something, so he lifted Gemma and turned him around. "Put your legs around my waist."

"This really isn't the time, Marduk," the demon teased, but he did as he was told, trapping the infant between them. One tiny hand gripped Marduk's white coat and settled himself in Gemma's lap more firmly as he was cocooned in warmth.

"Fuck, I'm tired," Gemma muttered after five minutes when it was clear that the exhausted child was asleep. "How the hell does his mother survive?"

"I don't know," Marduk replied tiredly, letting his head fall back against the wall with a thump.

~~

There was a crash and it jerked him from a very sound sleep. He hadn't slept since Kaito had been born. In fact, since the night before Eri died. He didn't even feel tired when he was in Kaito's soul and he hadn't felt tired at all when they'd been incorporeal, but as soon as he'd been touched by the boy and they were real, doing things really did take his energy.

He looked toward the doorway and stiffened. Shit! Kaito's mother was staring at them and he couldn't tell if it was horror, shock, or fear on her face. Carefully he tilted his head around. Kaito was still sleeping peacefully in their combined laps, and Gemma had fallen asleep too. He was half leaning against Marduk, head against the right side of his neck. With the way that his back was bent, it had to be highly uncomfortable.

He shifted, groaning a little at his cramped wings. This small room was really not big enough for two large pairs of wings and the furniture. Kaito shifted, letting out a yawn that he desperately told himself he didn't think was adorable, and decided that it was best to not move at the moment. It had taken so long to get him asleep...

"I'm sure you have questions," he whispered, hoping she _didn't_.

The woman nodded dumbly.

Marduk nudged Gemma a few times until those red eyes opened. "Ow, fuck... My back is killing me." The demon bent backwards, almost illegally so, as his back cracked.

"Shut up!" he hissed. "You'll wake him up!"

"Shit, sorry. I forgot." The demon looked down and brushed his clawed hand over that baby face. When there was a frightened eep, they looked back over at his mother. Her expression clearly stated that she didn't like those claws and wanted to get her son away from them, but was too afraid to approach. "...Shit. Guess that answers the question of if people can see us yet."

"Who...what...why..."

Gemma shifted, readying to stand, but froze instantly when there was a tiny whine from the bundle in their lap. Carefully, slowly, he sat back down as if one wrong move could destroy the world. Marduk sympathized greatly because neither of them wanted to ever deal with a crying Kaito again, and even if he didn't wake up crying, he couldn't keep up with a ball of energy like this all the time!

"Please, come closer," he told her, beckoning her toward them. Very carefully she did so, sitting gingerly in the rocking chair nearby.

"May I call you Saralai?" She nodded warily. "This is a very long story, Saralai and if I tell you, you must promise to keep it and the knowledge of our existence to yourself."

"Why?"

"Please promise us this, and we will tell you everything."

"...Could what you're about to tell me impact Kaito's life?"

He sighed. "In a very large way. It could affect his _entire_ life."

Saralai's expression became resolute. "Then tell everything."

So Marduk did. He started from the very beginning, including the experiment and all the way up to Eri's death. He didn't even leave out that they had been lovers in Eri's life. She seemed skeptical at about his tale regarding her pregnancy, but gave him the benefit of the doubt. The story took half an hour and by that point, Marduk's ass was getting numb from the hard floor.

"So how did this happen?" Saralai asked, gesturing to the two of them.

"Your son is a stubborn creature, that's how," Gemma said. "We weren't sure even he could see, but he crawled out of the crib on his own and came over to us. When he touched us, suddenly we could touch other things. We tried to get him to sleep in the bed, but he kept getting out until he feel asleep in Marduk's lap. When we put him back, though, he started to cry."

Seeing the look on Gemma's face, reminiscent of his panic from earlier, Saralai laughed. "The only way to make him stop was to bring him back over, but he kept going until I sat in Marduk's lap. We fell asleep because why not, it wasn't as if we could move anyway."

"I'm going to have to ask you not to mention this conversation to Kaito either," Marduk murmured.

"Why not? This is something I think he should know."

"I'd rather him not have any memory or knowledge of his previous life. Eri is dead and what happened to her, and by extension him, should be left in the past. This is a new life now."

The sound of a door opening and closing downstairs caught their attention and Kaito squirmed. Emerald eyes opened and he grinned up at them. He picked the boy up in his arms, about to hand him to his mother, when Kaito tried again, "Mar. Gem."

"That's the first thing he's ever said!" Saralai gasped. "He's trying to say your names!"

"Here, listen up, Kaito." Gemma leaned in closer. "Gemma. You can add an 'ma' at the end." He repeated his name with exaggerated lip movements.

Kaito stared at the mouth, back up to red eyes, and then leaned forward. Gemma gave a very undignified squeak at the chaste pressing of lips and backpedaled, landing on the floor. Kaito laughed, clapping his hands together.

"K-Kaito?" Marduk muttered in confusion. Saralai thought it was funny, but he couldn't just find a lot of the humor in it considering the past relationship. Kaito turned and looked at him, his attention drawn, and repeated what he'd done, much to his shock.

"Don't get so upset, you two," Saralai told them, grabbing her son. "He's just emulating what he's seen his father and I do."

They watched her go and Gemma muttered darkly, "You think that's all he's doing?"

"...No."

"Me neither."


	2. Chapter 2

They watched the young boy dodge in and around legs, nearly knocking over several people as he did so. Once he had learned to walk, it had been all over. There was nothing keeping him still and the four walls of his house could barely contain him. The only thing that had eased Saralai's mind was the fact that Marduk and Gemma were always with him. Unfortunately even after all this time, despite being able to consistently affect the world around them, neither angel nor demon was able to control whether they were visible or not. Kaito had to be touching them and concentrating in order for them to appear to other people.

They could never hide from Kaito, though, and the one time that they had willingly allowed themselves to rest in his soul during the day had caused the two year old to cry inconsolably. According to Saralai, speaking to what seemed to be an empty room, he'd been crying for hours until they'd apparently reappeared.

Kaito was a few days shy of his fifth birthday and not surprisingly for his age, that was his favorite day of the year because that meant he was the center of everyone's attention. Gemma thought birthdays were nonsense, but after the first time he'd dismissed it as nonsense on Kaito's third and caused the child to go into a temper tantrum, Marduk had told him that he was not allowed to ever say that again.

"Kaito!" The boy turned, looking at a young lady that couldn't be older than twenty. "How are you? Where is your mother?"

"With Father," he answered promptly.

"Where is he?"

"At home."

"Not at the fields?"

"Mother said she wanted to talk to Father alone."

The girl looked a tad concerned for a minute and then held out her hand. "Well, I wouldn't feel right if you were alone, so why don't you stick close to me until someone comes to get you?"

"I'm not alone. Marduk and Gemma are here."

There was no point in trying to convince Kaito that he probably shouldn't say that and point to the empty air right behind him. The boy had looked so horribly confused when the subject had been brought up by Marduk that they'd given up. This was apparently no big deal, as whenever he mentioned it, most adults just nodded at his 'imaginary friends'.

"Yes, but what happens if you get in trouble? They can't protect you!" the girl countered, grabbing Kaito's hand and walking down the street with him.

"They can too!" Kaito argued passionately. "They've got swords like Father and they're really good with them!"

Gemma could tell the young girl was just humoring the child, but he was curiously listening to the conversation as they wandered behind them. Like hell either of them were going to let Kaito go anywhere without them when the boy had been known to wander outside of town and toward the woods.

"Are they as good at fighting as the hero Raven?" she asked, clearly referencing some hero that had come about in the past that neither Marduk nor Gemma knew about.

"Better!" When she looked skeptical, Kaito pouted in childish annoyance. "They are!"

"Why?"

"Well...because...they just are! Besides, Marduk is an angel and Gemma is a demon, so they're way better!"

The girl looked a tad alarmed, but they were saved from having to figure out how to intervene when an older man a year or two away from forty passed by. "You two look like such a cute pair," he commented with a smirk.

She blushed prettily, looking demurely up at the man twice her age. "Thank you, My Lord. If I can ask, what brings you from your mansion?"

"Must be the provincial lord," Gemma commented.

Marduk's eyes were narrowed at the way the man's eyes not so innocently looked the girl over. "And one who is apparently abusing his authority."

"You don't know that. She's probably happy to be bedded by him. She gets a few favors, even if she's a mistress and no way in hell he'd ever marry her...even if he was single, which I'm betting looking at that ring that he's not."

Not surprisingly, the ball of energy that was Kaito was having a hard time staying still amid the boring adults conversation by the time it came back around to him. "So what are you doing with the young boy here?"

"Apparently there was a long conversation between his parents and they let him play in town."

"Unsupervised?"

"Nothing would hurt him here, My Lord. He was just telling me how wonderful his imaginary friends are."

"They're not imaginary!" Kaito insisted.

The lord laughed, only making the dark look on Kaito's face worse. "Sure they're not, sure." He reached out, patting Kaito's head in a familiar fashion even though they'd never met before. "Cute child, aren't you?"

"...He'd better not be into children," Gemma growled, his hand twitching closer to his sword.

"You know, while I understand demons are corrupted, not all humans are as bad your imagination." Even still, Marduk was tense.

Kaito squirmed his way out from under that hand and ran around their legs so that the angel and demon were between him and the two adults, not that it did much good since only Kaito could see them. Maybe the guy had scared Kaito, but Gemma thought it was far more likely that the lord's action had put him off. Kaito had an odd quirk that he only liked it when Gemma and Marduk touched or patted his head. Even his parents couldn't get away with it.

The lord only laughed. "Well then, would you show me around, Laurel?"

The girl blushed, but nodded.

"So she goes through all that fuss and then leaves him here. What the fuck?"

"Is it too much to ask that you at least curb the swearing while you're around Kaito?" Marduk spat.

"Yes, it is. So suck it up, angel."

Kaito's somewhat flighty attention span was caught by something and by the time they caught up with the child, they were already outside town. "Kaito!" Marduk called, looking around in concern when they couldn't see him immediately.

"Shit, why the hell does he have to move so fast?! What's around here?"

"The forest to the east and the graveyard to the west."

"Which direction do you think he went?"

"I don't know. We'll split up. You go to the forest and I'll head to the graveyard."

Gemma nodded and launched into the air. He thought it would give him a better view, until he realized just how thick the canopy was. It forced him to go in on foot if he wanted to have any hope at all of finding a small child. He swore repeatedly as he stumbled and his wings were scraped by trees that grew too close together for someone with his extra appendages.

"Kaito! Damn it, Kaito! Get out here! If you don't get the fuck out here right the fuck now--"

There was a scream, following by the sound of breaking branches. Gemma immediately turned to his left and leaped over fallen logs and rocks that got in his way, trying to get toward the source of the panicked cries. He could feel a tremendous surge of power from the small boy and that concerned him even more. Unlike what he'd heard about Eri's childhood, Kaito hadn't had many incidences that caused his power to flare, even inadvertently. While he could still sense it coiled tightly around the boy normally, it was as if most of the time it was just dormant. Anyone with an ounce of magic could tell it was there, like a cloak settling around Kaito, but unlike Eri, it didn't feel as if it were ready at any time to lash out like a hissing snake.

Gemma reached the screaming, diving into a tiny clearing. Kaito was huddled against a tree trunk just as a huge bear reared up on its hind legs and roared. The demon surged forward, kicking at its side and throwing it right off its feet onto the ground. It took the bear a few minutes to get to its feet, and its eyes were desperately looking around to find what had hit it. It could neither see, hear, or smell Gemma and that was a good thing.

He drew his blades, a sword in each hand and stabbed. It roared in pain, stumbling back as it trailed blood from its flank and side. He dove forward in striking range again, hoping a final stab to finish the creature, but he hadn't anticipated how powerful that bulk could be. The second two hits only seemed to make it angrier.

"Son of a...! This time you're fucking dead!"

What Gemma didn't count on was that somewhere in that pea brain of the bear was that it would pick up on something that could identify where he was. The demon was still displacing wind as he moved and his wings just by being there were adding more to it. Just has stepped forward for another lunge, the bear swiped in his direction with a giant paw. Four claws raked down his arm and he dropped his sword from a suddenly numb hand. The bear's head was swiveling around now and facing the last direction it had sensed Gemma in, surging up on its hind legs to be more of a menacing presence.

It was all that Gemma needed. With his remaining sword and good arm, he did a headlong rush and lunged. He ducked under a swiped paw and buried the steel right through the creature's chest, piercing its heart. It fell to the ground with a solid thud and he yanked his blade out, only to let it drop on the ground. He had two problems he had to deal with first and foremost: his arm that he was going to bleed to death out of if he didn't get some help and Kaito.

Kaito was crying, curled up into a tiny ball, and Gemma sighed. "Kaito, it's over. Come here." When the boy didn't move, he said again, "Come here."

The firmer note in his voice caused that mahogany head to lift. Red-rimmed eyes blinked and suddenly that ball of energy was flying at him, attaching to his chest. Gemma hissed as it jostled his wounded arm. "Shit..." There was no way that Marduk was going to find him this deep in the forest in time, which meant he'd have to go to him. He wiped his blades as best he could on the grass and then sheathed them. "Kaito, hold onto me. Don't let go, no matter what."

Kaito did as ordered without a single complaint and the demon lifted him up with his only remaining good arm. He had to hold him much like his mother had, against his hip, but that was when the boy had been younger and not nearly so heavy. It felt like it had been forever since he'd started out, but wasn't nearly that long before he stepped out of the edge of the forest. It was still broad daylight out and not that long had passed. They'd have to get him home soon, though.

"Hold on," he warned and started to fly. This was easier than walking because he still had two working wings, at least. The graveyard was closer than he anticipated and he just saw Marduk leaving as they drew closer. "Marduk!"

Marduk looked up just as Gemma landed in front of him. "Gemma! What happened?!"

"Heal first. Heal fucking first before I die of blood loss!"

Marduk didn't waste any time and was already started on that before he'd even finished speaking. If there was anything the angel was good at, it was healing, and it wasn't a minute later when he had a perfectly working arm.

"What happened?"

"A bear cornered Kaito. We fought. I got injured."

"How'd it even know you were there?"

"Wind, I think. It had a little sense in that tiny brain."

Marduk turned to the cowering child still clutched against him. "Kaito, how many times did we warn you not to go anywhere without us?"

There was a mutter against his shoulder.

"What was that?"

Kaito's head turned just a little, enough to look at Marduk from one eye. "Sorry... Sorry... Sorry..."

"...Is he broken?" Gemma asked in concern. "He just keeps repeating it..."

"I think he's just upset," Marduk replied slowly. "Apology accepted, Kaito, but now you have to promise not to do that again. Ever."

"Promise. Sorry. Promise. Sorry."

"There's got to be something more that's wrong with him..." Gemma said.

"Kaito?" Marduk prompted.

Kaito's emerald eyes looked at Gemma's once-wounded arm. "Got hurt. It was my fault."

"Well...yes."

That miserable expression cracked and he started to sob at Gemma's blunt statement.

"Gemma!"

"It's true!"

"Yes, but he's already miserable as it is, you didn't have to say it!"

"What the hell do you want me to do?!"

It took almost two hours to calm Kaito down and by then Gemma was getting antsy. How long before the mortals noticed the boy's absence? "Time to go home, Kaito, so you're gonna have to walk yourself."

Kaito clung tighter.

"Kaito, you know they can't see us. If they see you being carried by nothing, the the entire village will get upset."

Finally, after more cajoling, Kaito miserably went back to town. His mother and father were frantically looking for him and all but readying a search party when he came into view.

"Kaito!"

His father scooped the boy up into his arms. Kaito told the truth about the bear and Gemma's rescue, but most wrote off the demon's participation as a fanciful tale brought on by the young boy's fear.

Two hours later, they were alone in Kaito's bedroom while the boy had dinner with his family. "Wasn't much of a workout."

"You were mauled by a bear and that wasn't a workout?"

"It's not the same as fighting someone like an angel or mortal." Gemma sat on the windowsill and looked at the slowly sinking sun.

Before Marduk could reply, the door opened and Kaito entered. He looked even worse than before. "Kaito?"

"Father yelled at me about leaving town." The boy crawled up onto his bed. "Said the next time that happens I won't get dinner or be allowed out of the house for a week."

Gemma exchanged glances with Marduk as they moved over and plopped themselves on the bed on either side of the morose child. "Guess you'd better not do that again."

"That's not what's bothering you, is it?" Marduk asked.

"Gemma got hurt because of me."

"Marduk healed me, so just don't do it again. It's no big deal. I've got hurt a lot worse," Gemma almost boasted. Kaito looked at him and suddenly leaned against his side. "Kaito?"

"Sorry."

"You can stop apologizing now."

Whatever his parents had said to him, though, kept him subdued and contrite and even Gemma couldn't help hugging the boy tight. Between him and Marduk, had they been visible, it would have been impossible to tell that Kaito was even there.


	3. Chapter 3

Kaito threw all his weight into the kick at the bigger boy's stomach, grinning to himself when he watched his opponent stumble and fall back. He was still the smallest of all the boy's in the village, but that wouldn't be long at this rate. His growth spurt had been delayed a bit, but he was growing like a weed now even at eleven. At sixteen, Kaito was hoping he'd be taller than all of them. After all, his father was very tall and so were Gemma and Marduk.

Two other boys tackled him from behind, knocking him into the dirt, and they grappled. Kaito was getting the upper hand because, well...he fought the way Gemma taught him: dirty. Even Marduk hadn't so much as argued even once at the dirty tactics, saying he'd rather him know that so he could protect himself.

Being smaller had its advantages, though, and Kaito squirmed out from underneath the two boys. By the fact that after a few more kicks they weren't getting up and none of the others attacked, he declared victory.

"You're such a liar, Kaito."

He looked over to the ringleader of the five boys who was nursing a split lip, sore groin, and a lot of bite marks. "Fuck you, Devon. I'm not lying!"

"Not lying, he says! Then you've gotta be crazy, 'cause there ain't no demon or angel with you! You think yer that fuckin' special you should have some?!"

"You want to father children in the future, Devon? Because right now I'm about to kick you so hard that you'll be singing in the girl's choir your entire life!" Gemma's language had added some very unusual insults to his vocabulary. "Gemma and Marduk are real! They just said I have to get more powerful for you to see them!"

"That's what you tell yourself, huh?!"

"Fuck you!" His leg swung out, but just as it was about to connect with Devon's package, a firm hand grabbed his ankle and stopped him. For a second, he thought it might be Marduk, but it wasn't. That hair wasn't white, it was just pale blonde and his eyes weren't golden, but yellowish brown. Nor did the angel wear cotton robes. "Oh, hello Father."

The priest frowned as he looked around the carnage. Four boys lay on the ground, nursing injuries, and Devon was only partially standing, leaning against the wall for support. Kaito appeared dirty but unharmed. "What's going on?"

"They called me a liar and started a fight."

"That's because he is a liar!" Devon argued at the disapproving stare directed his way. "He keeps saying things that ain't real and that's what a liar is!"

"Regardless of what he might have said, your reputation precedes you, Devon. I am well aware you harass anyone your age or younger. You will have a hard time convincing anyone that what you say is true when more than a few of the children go home with bruises every night."

"Well this time it's _his_ turn to have bruises!"

"Kaito..." The priest let go of his ankle and put a hand on his shoulder, leading him away from the small alley they'd been in. "Haven't you ever heard of restraint?"

"Why should I? It was five against one!"

"And you were perfectly capable of handling that. Whoever has taught you your fighting skills has you far above street brawls. You could hurt them permanently."

"Why should I care?!" Kaito demanded fiercely. "I'm sick of being called a liar by everyone! They're real!"

"I believe you."

He looked skeptically at the man before him. Father Larkin was a surprisingly young man, and if he was in his thirties, anyone would be surprised. It seemed an odd thing for someone like him to choose and no one missed the odd calluses on his hands that one didn't get from training in a priesthood. Yet they weren't sword calluses either, Kaito had learned what those felt like from his father and Gemma and Marduk.

"You don't believe me."

"I don't?"

"'Course not! Why would you?"

"If I didn't believe you, would I listen to you talk about Gemma and Marduk for hours?"

Kaito couldn't find something to say to that because in that, Larkin was right. For the past two years, the priest was the only one who would listen to him when he tried to tell them about Gemma and Marduk. He didn't think they were imaginary and he didn't chastise him about Gemma being a demon. He'd never really thought Larkin believed him though. The man never said anything, just listened, though he at least did ask the occasional question.

"Kaito, there's a lot out there in the world beyond this little town. You might be surprised to learn just how much I've seen on my way here. If you say that you see an angel and a demon, and they are attached to your soul, then I believe you. I know you have power, a lot of it, and you don't strike me as the type to lie. Besides, if there is anything out there that exists capable of attaching themselves a human's soul, then it's an angel or a demon. Now, do you want to walk me back to the church?"

"Sure."

"He's a smart and wise man."

"Marduk!" Kaito turned and smiled widely up to the angel, even though all Larkin could see was empty air.

"Got into a fight again, I see."

"Yeah. I won though!" he told Gemma proudly.

"Better have! I didn't train you for nothing, you know."

Lately Kaito felt more comfortable around the priest than he did his own home because Larkin listened and apparently believed him. There was at least one person that didn't think he was crazy, and now that he thought about it, he was also grateful that despite being a priest, he wasn't lectured about it being 'god's plan' or anything.

"Kaito, have you ever wondered why Gemma and Marduk are part of your soul?"

He nodded as they sat on the steps to the church. "'Course. I don't know though."

"Have you asked Marduk and Gemma?"

"Do you think I'm an idiot? Of course I asked!"

"What did they say?"

"They didn't." Kaito pouted at his two friends, who didn't quite meet his eyes. "They won't answer."

"I wonder why..."

He spent an enjoyable afternoon until the head priest, an old and stodgy man, stepped out of the church and chastised Larkin for just sitting there. The man just laughed, not seeming at all upset, and Kaito found himself warming even more to the priest now than he had the past two years.

"So what was the fight about this time?" Marduk asked as Kaito meandered his way back toward his home.

"They called me a liar. Said you two weren't real. Which, by the way, where _were_ you two all this morning?"

Marduk coughed a little and didn't answer, but was saved from further questions by an abrupt interruption.

"Kaito?"

He paused, half turning to watch a girl his age approach. "Isabel?" She was the prettiest in the village, or so he heard the other boys say, and one of the few that hadn't fallen into Devon's clutches yet. Her hair was a muted red, curling in ringlets near the ends, and her eyes were an attractive hazel. She was the daughter of the carpenter and the apple of her father's eye. "Something wrong?"

"I was going to ask you that. What happened?"

"It's nothing, got into a fight with Devon again."

She patted his sleeves to get some of the dirt off. "If you go home like that, you'll just get yelled at again, won't you?"

"Probably, but it doesn't matter."

"Why not?"

"Because I'm telling the truth. It makes it easier to listen to lectures when you know you're right and they're wrong."

She smiled. "Really?" For a minute there was an awkward silence before she abruptly asked, "Kaito, would you...would you dance with me in the festival next month?"

"So she asked, huh? Figured she might pretty soon."

Kaito blinked, looking over his shoulder at Gemma, who sounded unhappy. There was an irritated look on his face and his arms were crossed. Marduk wasn't looking any happier, but he also wasn't looking at them either. His gaze was off to the side as if he was doing his best to not listen to the conversation. What was the matter with them?

A dance wasn't just a dance at the spring festival, even Kaito knew that. For a working town like this, where most of the girls were married by the age of sixteen, whoever they danced with was like stating who they were hoping for. It wasn't any firm commitment, but it was at least a way allowing other boys who might also want that who they'd have to compete with. It also worked the other way around with girls knowing who their competition was for a particular boy.

Kaito was no great hand at dancing, but that wasn't the reason he was about to turn her down. He liked Isabel, it was nothing against her. She was actually a really nice girl, not stuck up about her looks, and didn't mind getting dirty, but he felt nothing for her. There was the possibility of friendship, he supposed, but as for a romantic fashion... Come to think of it, he felt no desire to dance with any girl.

"Isabel... I'm sorry, but no."

"Oh. That's...That's all right then. Who...who are you going to dance with?"

"Probably no one," he answered honestly. "I'm bad at dancing and not really interested."

"Not interested?" she repeated, as if the idea was beyond comprehension.

"It sounds weird, I know, but I don't know how else to explain it."

Isabel stared at him and he shifted uncomfortably, but was saved by her father calling out to her to come home. Everyone knew that he was not ready for his daughter to court anyone and he particularly didn't like the idea of her with Kaito, who got into a lot of fights among other problems.

"Why'd you turn her down?"

"You already know," he told the demon. "I'm not interested."

"In dancing or in girls?"

Kaito didn't answer until he was in his bedroom, rushing past before his mother could notice his state and letting himself drop boneless onto his bed. "I don't know. Maybe dancing, maybe girls, maybe both. I just... When I think about it, all I can think of is 'meh'. It's...hard to describe."

Gemma and Marduk exchanged a complicated glance. The angel sat down next to him. "Kaito, what do you think about when you touch yourself?"

Kaito looked at him blankly. "Um...no...thing? Why would I think about anything in particular when I touch myself?"

Seeing the confusion, Marduk asked, "I don't mean touching like when you bathe."

"He means when you're aroused," Gemma said bluntly.

Red flooded his cheeks. "What?! I don't...I mean...!"

The demon blinked. "Wait...are you telling me you _don't_ touch yourself when you're aroused?"

"It's just...I... A-Anyway, I don't think of anything in particular when I'm...you know..."

"You don't even know how, do you? Didn't you ever experiment in the mornings before anyone got up?"

"N-No!"

"Want us to teach you?"

"W-What?!"

"Trust me, it feels so great you'll want to die...or spend all your time doing it. All guys do it."

"You don't have to say yes, Kaito," Marduk reminded him.

"...You think...every other boy is doing it?"

"Probably yeah," Gemma said, waving his hand as if that were inconsequential.

"Then...I want to know too!"

Gemma and Marduk exchanged glances and then the demon slipped behind him, pulling Kaito into his lap. Marduk slid the boy's legs a little wider and knelt in front of him. "Just say stop if you want us to stop, all right? We'll stop." Much larger fingers slipped through his and linked their hands.

"What are you doing, Marduk?"

"Just to keep your hands out of the way," Gemma whispered in his ear. "Now...watch."

So Kaito watched as those clawed hands carefully pushed down his pants to his thighs. He bit his lip when he felt those hands begin to stroke him and it took an embarrassingly short amount of time before he was hard. At the first full stroke, he gasped and his fingers squeezed Marduk's hands. The angel leaned in, as if drawn closer without a will of his own. Lips brushed against his forehead and down the side of his face. "Are you all right, Kaito?" he murmured.

Kaito couldn't answer him because at that moment, one of Gemma's fingers was rubbing insistently on his tip and he was letting out little crying sounds of pleasure. "Don't tilt your head back," the demon told him. "Look down. How else are you going to learn?"

It took more effort than he wanted to admit to look down. He pulsed against clawed fingers at the sight. His eyes widened when his foreskin was pulled away a little and a callused fingertip rubbed against him. He would have shouted at that, if Marduk hadn't pressed the back of his own hand against his mouth. His hips thrust up, hard, and Marduk had to lean forward to keep him balanced in Gemma's lap. When he came back down, he felt something equally hard being pressed against his behind, but with another stroke of the demon's hand, he forgot about that.

All throughout this, he listened his friend's whispered instructions in his ear. How to stroke, where to touch, even holding and playing with his sack. It took another pressing of the back of his hand to quiet his shout as he came, staining Marduk's shirt with something white.

He panted as slumped back against the demon, not noticing the agonized expressions of his friends as he fell asleep.

~~~

Kaito spent a lot of time with Larkin in the next two months, moreso than usual, because Larkin was the only friend he really had, but it didn't bother him. Rivalry among boys at this age was common, his father said, because of all the girls that would be coming of age in the next few years. Larkin was always by the church, usually working on something, but that day he was reading a letter and looking pensive.

"Larkin?"

The man's head snapped up. "Oh, Kaito. I didn't notice you there."

"What's wrong?"

"Why would you assume something's wrong?"

"You always notice everything. I can't sneak up on you even if I wanted to."

"I'm fine, really. You don't need to worry." He folded the letter and it disappeared into a pocket in his robes.

Despite saying that, Kaito could see the concern in his eyes. Something was really wrong, but no matter how much he asked, Larkin told him that he was fine and didn't need to worry. There was a nagging bad feeling in the back of his mind and it prompted him to get up earlier the next day. He still wasn't as early as the adults, but enough. He ran to the church, but Larkin wasn't there.

"That's...strange. He was always here," Marduk commented.

Gemma jumped into the air, flying high and looking around. When he came back down, his expression was grim. "We've got problems. Looks like a large raiding group is bearing down on the town and priesty is standing out there waiting for them."

Before Marduk could protest his action, Kaito was off running. They didn't have a gate to the town and only one main road. If raiders were determined to attack, one priest wasn't going to hold them off. The sad thing was, Kaito was probably their best warrior and he was eleven. Sure his father was a former knight, but he didn't move so well any more and he was probably out in the fields by now. In fact, the only people still in town were old folks and children.

He skidded to a halt when he saw Larkin. The man was still in his priest robes, but in his hand was a longbow. Across his back was a quiver and another sitting by his foot.

"If it isn't my Lark," a man said. His chainmail chinked as his horse wandered closer. "I've been looking for my best archer that abandoned me."

"I couldn't do it any more," Larkin replied in a remarkably even voice. "I couldn't kill people any more, Jan."

"What a pity. I guess that means you won't come back willingly." When Larkin shook his head, Jan sighed. "Well how about this: you come back with me or we raze the town to the ground, starting with that brat."

Larkin tilted his head just a little, but didn't turn to look. "I wish it hadn't come to this." He pulled an arrow, knocking it, but before he could draw it back, a sword flashed out and slid through the supple wood like a hot knife through butter. Larkin looked stunned at this just before the man stabbed him through his leg. He crumpled to the ground.

"Don't worry, Larkin, we'll get you a new bow. Boys, raze it!"

Kaito watched the altercation in horror. They would kill everyone! They'd take Larkin, his friend, away! He couldn't...couldn't let that happen! "Stop!"

"Kaito, run!"

Kaito did, but right in front of the priest. The warhorse could crush him if it chose, but he wasn't about to move.

"Kaito!

"Damn it, you brat!"

He ignored Marduk and Gemma's shouts. "Larkin doesn't want to go, you asshole! So leave!"

There was stunned silence from the raiders before Jan began to laugh. "I like you kid, you've got balls! Leave this one alive. If he survives our 'welcome', he'll be a raider."

Kaito didn't know what that 'welcome' would entail, nor did he care. Nobody was killing anyone in his home! "You'll regret if you don't leave!"

"Oh really? Who's going to stop me?"

"I am!"

This time it was a belly laugh, Jan having to hang onto the pommel of his saddle otherwise he'd fall off. "I love it, I love this kid! He's mine, you guys understand?"

There were evil grins. "You got it, boss."

"Jan, _no_! Not to him!"

"What, you have a conscience now, Larkin? What are you going to do about it?" He whistled and an archer from somewhere near the middle of the ground of thirty men lit something. When it was lifted, Kaito felt his blood turn cold. A flaming arrow?! That would burn the fields, the houses! In his imagination, he saw the town burning; saw the raiders rushing in seeing men being slaughtered and women being assaulted. Isabel, Devon, his parents... Then they'd take Larkin, his friend, away and force him to do something he had clearly desperately ran away from.

"Kaito!" Larkin was shouting at him and he turned, seeing a few of the further back, with a few old folks just showing up. They had been drawn by the commotion. There was Isabel, squeezing through the boys until she was standing front and center. They'd all...they'd all die.

He thought he heard Gemma and Marduk's voices, but it was as if they were so far away. In fact, everything felt so far away. The arrow was in the air now, flying toward a thatched roof and Kaito's mind went blank.

The raiders, Larkin, the town's inhabitants, and Gemma and Marduk watched as Kaito's hand lifted and with a flick of his hand, five thin streams of black burst from his fingers. It flew faster than the arrow, surrounding the thin piece of wood and fletching and flame. Before their eyes, the fire dimmed and went out as if it had no air to feed on and the wood disintegrated until just an arrowhead bounced harmlessly against the roof it had been aimed for.

"Oh fuck," Gemma cursed as Kaito began to glow. Not white, not black like either they might expect, but red. Red like Eri's magic before she'd died. They'd learned that whenever that red glow appeared, that meant they'd reached the danger point. The point where it was lethal, the point that all angels and demons had feared and they'd sent Marduk and Gemma to Eri to start with. The point where be it Eri or Kaito could probably destroy half the continent if they really tried. It meant business.

There wasn't even a sound from the eleven year old as a burst of wind ruffled his clothes and threw up dust. Amid that, a pair of black wings appeared, stretching...then a second pair, this one of a grayish color showed up just above that...and finally a third set, these of startling white. They weren't as large as Gemma or Marduk's, but somewhere in the back of their minds, they knew that they'd only get bigger as Kaito got older. His shoulder-length mahogany hair changed as well. Much like his wings, the center area of his hair was gray, but as it transitioned down on the left side of his head, it turned pitch black and the right side of his hair turned pure white. When the boy's head turned just enough, they saw his left eye was black and the other white.

Neither Gemma nor Marduk had ever seen Eri in what they called her ascended form. She almost hadn't needed to be because she had so much power overflowing that she couldn't control as it was. Perhaps it was a side effect from what Eri had done, but half of Kaito's power was actually contained rather than barely a third like with Eri. Unfortunately, to withstand the sheer amount of power that Kaito was capable of bringing out, it brought with it a few physical alterations. Whether that was to help the body manage that power better or just side effects, they didn't really know.

The raiders' horses were panicking the moment the first pair of wings appeared and Kaito's power jumped exponentially, but none of them managed to lose their riders and run.

"What the fuck?!" Jan spat, desperately trying to keep his warhorse under control. He managed to keep it from bolting by allowing it get away from the boy.

"Kaito?" Larkin whispered, but Kaito didn't even look at him or speak. He raised his hand and there was a ripple through the earth.

Deep inside, there was a shift in the blankness of his mind. Kaito, who could see and yet couldn't somehow, lifted his head. There was a weight on his shoulder, he felt that, and a voice. A voice he knew. A voice he loved.

He blinked. The world came into view, as if color bleeding into a landscape of gray. At first it was blurry, then it became sharp. Marduk's face was before him, looking worried. "It's okay, Kaito. We'll handle this."

"Where the fuck did you guys come from?!" Jan spat, sounding panicked.

"Fuck you, asshat," Gemma replied.

"Raiders! Draw your weapons!"

Kaito nodded to the angel and watched as Gemma and Marduk drew their swords and attacked. Watching them move was both beautiful and terrifying. He'd always known that the two were good, more than good, but it was the first time he'd ever seen them kill before...and kill they did. Even Marduk was merciless, no hint that he felt even the slightest bit remorse as he did so. He'd always told Kaito that archangels were warriors despite being able to heal almost anything, including most life-threatening wounds.

It was over in seconds.

They cleaned their swords on the clothing of the raider's and sheathed them, before approaching Kaito. "It's okay now, Kaito. You can relax," Marduk told him. Kaito wanted to say he was fine, he really was, but he could feel himself starting to shake now. His hands, his arms, his legs. For the first time since it had started, he felt fear. Now that it was gone, he could realize that he'd felt fear before.

Kaito never realized that he looked different, or that his form was changing back to normal as Marduk spoke. By the time they had gathered him up in their arms, his hair was brown, eyes green, and had no wings.

"...Kaito?"

Hearing the stunned voice, the three looked over at Larkin still laying and bleeding on the ground. Before Kaito could move, Marduk picked him up and walked over, kneeling on the ground. Kaito knew he was heavy, he had to be, but to the angel's credit, he hadn't made a grunting sound. The truth was, as embarrassed as he might get later, right then he was willing to let his friends pamper and protect him just a little. The only question was now...what had happened? One minute he'd been watching the flaming arrow heading for one of the roofs and the next he'd seen Marduk's face. There wasn't an arrow anywhere to be seen... With a wave of his hand, Marduk healed the priest's leg.

"What...the hell...are..."

Kaito looked up at Devon's stuttered voice. His eyes were shifting from Kaito, to Marduk and Gemma. Could...Could people see them?! Marduk stood up, despite the boy's sudden squirming to be let go now that he knew that the other boys were watching.

"Demon, you fucker," Gemma spat, and came over, wrapping his arms around Kaito as well and sharing the weight of the eleven year old who really wanted down now. "He fucking _told_ you little shits that he wasn't lying."

"B-B-B-B-But--"

Larkin stood up. "Kaito, are you all right?"

"M'Fine," he replied, realizing just how exhausted he was. Why was he so tired? It felt as if he hadn't slept in three days.

"How...did you do that?"

"Do what?" Larkin stared at him. "What'd I do?"

"What's the last thing you remember, Kaito?" Marduk asked as his friends hugged him closer, as if they were afraid of the answer.

"Seeing the arrow flying...then the next thing I see is your face, Marduk." His head automatically fell against the angel's shoulder. It wasn't that he was going to go to sleep, it was just that his shoulder was there and he could talk and rest his head there at the same time.

"You stopped the arrow, Kaito," Larkin said. "You saved us."

"I don't...remember..." he slurred a little before passing out.


	4. Chapter 4

It was chaos. Larkin took charge almost immediately, sending children to get their parents. They had to nip the panic in the bud if they didn't want to happen to Kaito what had happened to Eri. Currently the boy was dead asleep in their arms and only their presence combined with Gemma's fierce glare kept the chaos at bay enough to let him sleep. It felt nice to be able to hold him again. They'd resisted doing so after Kaito had turned seven because the boy had become more attuned and embarrassed to it, and particularly after two months ago with that sexual experience, but hell if Marduk could hold back any longer. If he wanted to hug Kaito, he'd hug him damn it!

Gemma spotted a bigger boy and smirked. "Hey, you!"

"W-What?"

"C'mere."

The boy looked highly suspicious. "...Um..."

"C'mere or I break your kneecaps."

"You do know that threatening is not the definition of 'persuade', right?"

"It is mine." When the boy came closer, his clawed hand reached out. "I've wanted to do this for awhile."

"Don't hurt him too badly and don't do it in front of anyone, it'll look bad on Kaito."

"For fuck's sake, Marduk, stop mothering him when he doesn't need it!"

"What, you _want_ things to turn out like what happened to Eri?"

Gemma didn't say anything. "Che. Fine." He dragged the boy by the shirt into the shadow of a building. Marduk kept his back to them, shifting his wings so that whatever Gemma was going to do wasn't seen by anyone.

"W-W-What's going on?"

"You're the one that keeps picking fights with Kaito, and while I love that he keeps kicking your ass, I'm really pissed as hell you've spent the last four years calling him a liar."

"What are you going to do...?"

"What I'd _like_ to do is say turn around and bend over--"

" _Gemma!_ "

"--but that'd be the reaction I'd get, so instead, I'm just going to give you a beating."

"No permanent damage!"

"For Satan's sake, Marduk, shut the fuck up and let me get on with it! I wouldn't leave permanent damage as fucking self-preservation, because if I did, you'd never shut up about it and then I'd contemplate fucking suicide."

Marduk frowned in consternation as he listened to what was going on before Gemma let the bruised and mildly bloody boy grovel out and run home. Thankfully just in time as the mayor of the town, the lord of the province, and Kaito's parents showed up. The only one who wasn't surprised was Saralai. She rushed forward, as if to take her son, but Marduk only allowed her to approach as Gemma drew closer to hold Kaito too. She blinked, stunned. "What's going on?"

"'Bout fucking time you showed up," Gemma spat. His eyes were glaring fiercely at the lord in particular. "Where the hell were your fucking soldiers patrolling the roads? Do you know what the fuck would have happened if it weren't for Kaito?"

Larkin rushed up before anyone could reply, also allowed in the small area close to the boy, but whenever father, mayor, or lord tried to step forward, Marduk stepped back and Gemma growled. "I'm afraid I'd like some explanation for all this," the lord said with a glare. "I was dragged from my manor for this."

"Given the state of your clothes, I can see why that was such a hard thing for you to do. Fucking a servant girl or one from the village?"

Marduk didn't chastise Gemma, even as the man looked as if he'd have a seizure, he was so angry. "It's not a long story, you already know it. Kaito's been telling everyone for years that we existed. Originally we were afraid that if he said anything, you would attempt to do something idiotic like perform an exorcist, but instead, you did something worse."

"Worse?" the mayor repeated, clearly stunned.

"You called him a liar, when Kaito has never lied about anything in his life. Not even if he's done something wrong. Not even when he skipped out on chores, or when he'd sneak into the forest when he wasn't supposed to. If you'd bothered to pay attention to that fact, that he doesn't lie, you'd realize that he was telling the truth."

"But it's so...preposterous..."

"What, that Kaito's got us? Who the fuck gives a shit about that?" Gemma argued, instinctively shifting his weight when Kaito moved closer to his voice.

"But can I ask why?" Larkin asked politely. "Why are you attached to him?"

To Larkin and Saralai, and only them, was Gemma less abrasive. One couldn't call him _polite_ , but he didn't actively insult them. "Long story, doesn't matter any more. Hell, it's good, ain't it? You don't even know half the times we've saved his life."

"He's able to face the world without fear because he knows that we'll be there to protect him when he's vulnerable," Marduk finished.

"From what I've heard, he was hardly vulnerable this morning."

Marduk's eyes met the serious blue gaze of Kaito's father. "You might be surprised, but then, you wouldn't know, would you? You indirectly called him a liar too, didn't you? Or did you _want_ to see your eleven year old son slaughter over thirty five men? He can do it, but I'd rather do that myself and leave his hands free of blood for the next few years."

"I never called my son a liar!" the man argued, his voice quiet but fervent.

"Not directly, no, but you're his father. You of all people should have believed him. You should have known, figured it out. Maybe when a child is very young, they have imaginary friends, but when your nine year old son is _still_ insisting he's seeing someone, your first thought _should be_ that something's there, rather than telling him that he's too old for imaginary friends!"

"Saralai, did you know about this?"

Saralai looked at them all and then down. "I'd seen them only once before, when Kaito was a year old. Apparently he kept jumping out of his crib to get to them and wouldn't sleep unless it was in their laps. We talked for a bit, and I never saw them again."

"It's because Kaito couldn't sustain us with that limited power," Marduk explained. "He didn't need any to see us, we were part of his soul, and he had unlocked a little more when he was a year old that allowed us to touch and interact with things, particularly with him, but he couldn't make anyone see, hear, or smell us. Thanks to that altercation this morning, he has more power available to him to support us."

"Wait, I'm afraid I don't understand all this power talk," the mayor interrupted, sweating a bit at the combined stares of angel and demon.

"Guess we found the dumb one here," Gemma muttered. "Think of it like a huge box with smaller boxes inside, or a door that opens to other doors. Each one is locked and only opened by one key naturally. When that door opens, Kaito gains power. Another, even more power. Do you get the picture, numb nuts? It _should_ have been natural, the unlocking of the door, but because fucking moron of a lord there let all fucking soldiers off to the whorehouse for a fucking day, rather than finding that door open naturally, he had to _force_ it open. You don't want that."

"You mean what he looked like this morning..."

"That was the end result," Marduk answered Larkin. "It's what Kaito looks like if he's in his full power. We call it, for lack any better term, ascended. His wings will get bigger, for example, as he grows up. That form isn't unnatural," he added, seeing Saralai's distressed expression, "it's always there. It's just that he shouldn't be able to have that or access that until he's much, much older and has the rest of his power available. As Gemma said, it's locked for his own safety and his soul knows that. It's why Kaito remembers nothing at all of what he did. He won't be able to remember without years of training and expansion of his magic."

"If you were there the entire time, then why didn't you stop the raiders before that happened?" the lord pointed out with a smug sneer.

"You son of a--"

"Gemma!" Marduk's hand shifted, grabbing Gemma's before he let go of their combined hold of Kaito. He feared that the demon just might gut the man with how angry he was.

"Weren't you fucking paying attention?! Our presence is depended on with his magic! If he concentrates hard enough, he can shove us back in his soul so that even he can't see us! So see if you can wrap your pea brain around this concept: he was exuding so much fucking power so fucking chaotically that we could barely hang on until it stabilized!"

"Have you never been on a ship in the middle of the ocean when a vicious storm hits?" Marduk added just as viciously. "You're being buffeted, it's sometimes more than you can stand to just breathe, much less do anything else! And if it's that difficult for us, imagine how painful it must have been for Kaito! I'm glad he doesn't remember anything!"

"How painful?" Saralai asked quietly.

"I don't know," Marduk answered softly, taking pity on her. Only Saralai and Larkin had ever treated Kaito as if he were telling the truth. They were worth something and allowed to approach. The rest had only made Kaito's life harder.

"We need to acknowledge one fact before going further," Larkin stated. "Kaito saved us, the entire village, and I'm even more glad that he didn't need to kill anyone to do it. So while I thank Marduk and Gemma from the bottom of my heart, we need to be even more grateful to Kaito. If this is handled badly, if this fact gets _lost_ in the chaos of information going out to the town in the aftermath of all this, Kaito's life could be unbearable. He could be ostracized or worse. That would be a poor way to repay the boy who kept us alive."

Marduk felt a swamping of hope, relief, and gratefulness to the priest. In a place like this, a priest would carry a lot of weight. He bowed a bit to the man, forcing Gemma to bow too given their entwined arms around the boy. "We are indebted to your kindness, Priest. You have always treated Kaito so well in the past and I appreciate your help now."

Larkin blinked and seemed embarrassed by the tiny bit of red on his cheeks. "I haven't done anything special..."

"You have. Whether you know it or not. You and Saralai are the only ones that believed Kaito, and whether even he will realize how much he needed that, I don't know, but we do. To live in an entire town where people believe you to be a liar is an emotionally draining thing and the only reason that we have not just taken him and _left_ is because of Saralai and Larkin."

"You would dare take my son from me?!"

He glared at Kaito's father. "Can you call him a son when you turned your back on him?"

"I never--"

"He never asked anything from you except for you to fucking believe him!" Gemma shouted. "The one time he asked, you fucked it up! That behavior makes any demon proud and it pisses _me_ off!"

Before the shouting match could devolve any further, it was interrupted by Kaito. The boy groaned and lifted his head, looking tired and drawn. Even sleeping for a few hours in Marduk's presence that could often heal magical damage just by being close to him, had done little to help. Even his angelic powers were a drop in the bucket compared to Kaito's. What effect his aura might have was completely drowned out. Still...Marduk blessed his healing powers every minute of every day for the help it would give to Kaito, no matter how little.

"Kaito?"

"You okay?"

Kaito lifted his head at their questioning and then it dropped back down. "So tired..." he muttered, voice barely above a whisper. "Why am I so tired?"

"You did an amazing thing this morning, Kaito, and saved everyone, but the way you did it was like doing a sword move too advanced for the first time," Larkin explained, surprising Marduk with the clever analogy. "It's like you pulled a muscle, only magically."

"Oh..." Tired green eyes, almost so closed they could barely be called open swept over the group standing in front of his house. Behind the lord, the mayor, and his father were a growing congregation of the town's inhabitants watching from a distance. Marduk could see even from where he was that they were on the precipice. If it wasn't handled the right way, right now, that would turn to fear and they'd avoid him or maybe even try to turn on Kaito the way they had on Eri.

Not that they'd ever let anything happen to him.

"Why's everyone starin' at me?"

Saralai stepped into view and Kaito smiled a little at seeing his mother. "They're not staring at you silly, but at Marduk and Gemma. We don't get to see two handsome men like that here all that often!"

"Really? That's...all it is?" His voice was growing progressively sleepier. "'Cause I told them they were real..."

There were uncomfortable looks at that, and ashamed ones and no one would meet Marduk or Gemma's fierce gaze.

"That's all it is," Saralai said, patting her son's hair. "So go back to sleep."

"Don't...want...to. Feels weird."

Marduk stiffened in concern. "What feels weird, Kaito?"

"Feels like I'll never get back up. So tired. Never been this tired before. It's scary."

"Shit, Kaito, that's normal for magical exhaustion," Gemma told him. "Happened to me once, I slept almost solid for a week! Only woke up to eat."

"Kay, if you say so."

"'Course. We've never lied to you before, right?"

"M'right..." The word was dragged out before Kaito was asleep again, as if it had taken all his effort to wake up.

Larkin looked directly the three next to them, and then at the crowd behind them. "Do you see now? Do you see how scared Kaito is of everything that's happened? This morning he faced down raiders to save me and this town despite that fear and now he doesn't know what's happening to him. The last thing you should be worrying out, Mayor and My Lord, is whether or not he'll turn on you!"

"I wasn't thinking that!" the lord defended, but by the way he shifted his weight, it was obvious he was lying.

"Please don't insult us, My Lord. Everyone did a disservice to Kaito in the past by calling him directly or implying that he was a liar when he was telling anyone who would listen that it was the truth. It's time to repay that and his heroic act this morning."

"How do we do that?"

"For one, explain to everyone what the hell happened as clearly as possible. People fear the unknown and if we let rumors get around, it's only going to make it worse. He needs to be treated as normally as possible, only this time stop calling him a liar. Thirdly, apologize to Gemma and Marduk. They were also affected and I can only imagine how upsetting it was for them to have to listen to all that as well."

There was a long moment of silence and Marduk didn't think that Larkin was going to get what he wanted, but the mortals surprised him. His father strode up to them despite Marduk's unfriendly gaze. His hand reached out, stroking his son's hair, and he whispered, "I'm sorry, Kaito."

"...Well it's a fucking start," Gemma muttered as Larkin ushered the mayor and the provincial lord back to the townsfolk to explain.


End file.
